Insight Into Becoming A Sommelier
It’s not surprising that these days food is more that a necessity, it’s a trendy industry that has spawned many different careers. If you attend a online culinary arts program you have a variety of job endeavors you can pursue, such as chef, pastry chef, food stylist and caterer. But if you have an expansive knowledge of regional wines and understand the subtle variations between their flavor profiles, you might want to pursue a life as a sommelier.
Becoming a sommelier
It’s obvious that you need a firm understanding of the world of wine to become a sommelier, but exactly what does that entail? In addition to taking courses on wine, you should have a good understanding of food and the components of a well-balanced dish. This will help you pair your vintages with a restaurant’s menu offerings. Regional wine is such a vast subject, sommeliers must also know about the soil, geography and climate of every wine-growing area.
Career opportunities
As a sommelier, you can pursue a job as a beverage manager or wine director in a top-notch restaurant. While this post only deals with drinks, it is a very important one. These people choose the wine varietals that are sold at the eatery. And sometimes that means procuring a vast collection of the best wine around that will be housed in an on-site cellar. Some restaurants are so into wine that they offer locker programs where they hold and store the collections of their patrons for safe keeping – for a fee, of course.
Business skills – If you are going to run a wine program at a restaurant, you have to have smart business skills. This includes knowing how to perform accounting, inventory and management duties. Also, you may also need to be an educator and liaison between the customer and your wine collection. For the former, you will need to help the staff, mainly the servers, learn about wine so they can offer them to the customers. Concerning the latter, people may want to buy a bottle or two before they head home, so they may speak to the sommelier directly for that purpose.
Wine pairing – Wine pairing is trendy right now, and there is no sign of it going away. You may need to develop pairings for a prix fixe menu for an upcoming holiday or another event.
